first grade math Archives - Look! We're Learning!

Monster Truck Measurement for First Grade Printables

April 1, 2019 by Selena Robinson 1 Comment

Now that we’re winding down first grade with Roo (yay!), I’ve been looking through the math objectives to make sure we touch on as many topics as possible. One of the major math concepts we still had to discuss was: measurement.

For Roo, though, life begins and ends with movement. So I wanted to make learning about measurement as fun as possible. Time to add in some monster trucks with a fun set of monster truck themed measurement for first grade printables!

These are a wonderful way to practice using rulers to measure to the nearest inch, half-inch, and quarter inch, especially if you have active kids who love all things transportation.

Check out our printable Monster Truck Measurement lesson and get a set of your own for FREE! And, for more ways to make math fun, take a look at our outdoor sidewalk chalk math game!

Monster Truck Measurement for First Grade Printables

To use these monster truck measurement for first grade printables, you’ll need the following: (Affiliate links included in this post. For details, see our Disclosure Policy.)

All you have to do is print the worksheets and then follow the instructions!

Kids can choose from measuring to the nearest inch, the nearest half-inch, or the nearest quarter-inch. So these work well for teaching measurement for first grade, but also measuring skills for second grade and rising third grade students.

This product also includes a full answer key, so kids can check their work!

Monster Truck Measurement for First Grade Printables Lesson

Since it was Roo’s first time working on this topic, we started with learning to measure to the nearest inch.

After we talked about the importance of lining up the first line on the ruler with the start of the object, Roo was off and running!

I encouraged him to draw a line from the start of the object to the point at which it lined up with the ruler, and then the same with the end of the object.

The instructions say to measure to the nearest inch, so it was also a good time to talk about estimation. After Roo measured each line of trucks, he wrote down the number on the lines. Easy peasy!

Since Pooh is in second grade, he worked on measuring to the nearest half-inch.

And he ended up learning that .5 and 1/2 are the same thing! (We’re already working on third grade objectives, albeit unconsciously…lol.)

Scroll down to get your copy of our Monster Truck Measurement for First Grade printables!

Don’t miss these other math activities you can do at home!

Plus, learn more about teaching math to kids by following my Math Mania board on Pinterest!

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Lego Bar Graphs for 1st Grade

January 14, 2016 by Selena Robinson 10 Comments

Roo is currently working his way through his first grade math objectives and it’s time to talk about reading and creating simple bar graphs. And what better way to learn just about any math skill than by using LEGO?

I’m joining up with the Early Elementary Blogging Team to share fun LEGO activities for kids in grades 1-3 today. In our family, we learned how to construct LEGO Bar Graphs for 1st Grade!

If you have a child who loves hands-on math, this is a simple and fun way to learn it!

Creating LEGO Bar Graphs for 1st Grade

In first grade, kids work on reading and making simple bar graphs. So, since we’d just gone to the store, I thought we’d collect data on the produce we currently had in the house.

I really wanted to use oranges, but they were a little *ahem* expensive this week, so onions it is!

First, I encouraged Roo to order all the objects he’d be representing. Apples in one row, onions in another, and bananas in a third row.

Then it was time to break out an anchor chart I’d made on graphing. Roo and I talked about how tally graphs, pictographs, and bar graphs were similar and different.

When he saw the bar graph, he said “Ohhhhh! I saw this before!” So we were starting out a little bit ahead.

I asked Roo what Duplo colors he thought we should use for each item. We didn’t have white, so blue had to do for the onions. But we wrote down each item and the number of each, so that he could easily create his graph.

So we got out the LEGO DUPLO Brick Set and got to work!

Once he saw the anchor chart, he had a good idea of what to do.

Apples at the bottom, onions in the center, and bananas on top – just like in his ordering sequence on the table.

Done!

Sigh….order is lovely, isn’t it?

Then we used the LEGO bar graph as the model to draw one on paper. Roo labeled his data and started drawing.

He took a few breaks to check his work as he drew.

All finished!

I love it when they look proud of their work!

Interestingly, I noticed as I wrote this post that Roo has on the exact same shirt for the activity this week as the one we shared last Thursday. I promise he has more than one shirt! He’s just strangely loyal to this one right now. Go figure.